Chivas USA Keeping Heads Up After Loss

Chivas USA enjoyed long spells of possession and good offensive chances against the LA Galaxy in Thursday night’s SuperClásico, but once again failed to secure a victory over their in-stadium rivals.

The Red-and-White are now 0-4-3 against the Galaxy in their last seven meetings, and have failed to even notch a goal against LA since Aug. 14, 2008.

“Obviously it’s no fun to lose, but we’re keeping our heads up,” said striker Justin Braun after the match. “The season is still very young. We have a lot of good things going for us. We were moving the ball well, creating some things, and I think we just have to finish our chances.”

Chivas USA did indeed look much sharper in their second outing of the season than in their first. The Goats maintained possession through the midfield well and were able to test LA goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts on a few occasions.

“I thought we had a lot of possession tonight and I’m proud of the determination and fight that we put into the game,” said Chivas USA captain Sacha Kljestan. “Last week, when we played Colorado, we walked off the field so mad and frustrated. But tonight, I’m trying to keep my head up because I’m proud of the way we played.”

The Red-and-White employed an almost completely different staring lineup against the Galaxy than they did against the Rapids. Justin Braun started up top while Maykel Galindo was slotted into the right wing. Marcelo Saragosa, Osael Romero and rookie Blair Gavin roamed the middle while Kljestan started the game out wide on the left side

“We changed [the starting XI] because wanted to try and use the width of the field and try to get behind them,” said Chivas USA head coach Martín Vásquez. “They play with their defensive line very high, and by playing [the way we did], we thought we could get behind them and expose them.”

“We had a plan, and we stuck to it,” he continued. “That [plan] was to play a fast-paced game, be aggressive and we were very unfortunate not to get a goal.”

The loss gives Chivas USA an 0-2 start to the year, the team’s worst since its inaugural 2005 season. But the goats aren’t giving up just yet. The team is ready to bounce back and has set its sights on preparing for the New York Red Bulls on April 10 at the Home Depot Center.

“I look forward to the next game,” said Kljestan. “If we play the way we played tonight against the rest of the teams in the league, we’ll be OK.”